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What is it like to live as a child, a gay, a migrant, a non-Han, a disabled, or an online celebrity in today’s China? How do we decode the Chinese society and culture beyond cannons and official records? This English-taught course moves beyond state ideologies and official accounts by exploring the multiplicity of Chinese livelihoods and their underlying sociocultural meanings and implications. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach to offer a survey of Chinese cultures and societies as expressed and experienced at the grassroots level. Students will be guided to engage with both textual and non-textual materials produced by Chinese individuals and groups to appreciate the multiplicity of social lives and form critical understanding of Chinese social norms, cultural patterns and their deviations. This Faculty Package course serves as an introduction to Chinese Studies.

Sept. 5 Course Introduction

Sept. 12 No Class (Public Holiday)

Sept. 19 Making Official: Ethnic Classification in PRC

Sept. 26 Making “Strangers”

Oct. 3 Missing Voices: Memory and Politics

Oct. 10 Desire and Disability

Oct. 17 Migrant Labor and Love

Oct. 24 “Disappeared” Daughters

Oct. 31 Presentation Day

Nov. 7 Courtship on Screen

Nov. 14 The Internet, Censorship and Resistance

Nov. 21 Civil Engagement and Its Limit

Nov. 28 Student Group Screening and Presentation